I know I’m not the first to write about this topic, and I certainly won’t be the last either. So I apologize in advance if you feel this is redundant or unoriginal, but it’s something that I felt I needed to write about. The issue I’m referring to is the audio of Trump that was recently discovered by The Washington Post and has since appeared on virtually every media outlet.

Here is the article posted on October 8^th, 2016 at 12:44 AM by The Washington Post, which shows the video of Trump's dialogue, as well as his statement after the release.

Trump said in his so-called apology statement, “Anyone who knows me knows these words don’t reflect who I am.” Really? If that’s true, America must not know Trump at all. Because these statements are by no means shocking or uncharacteristic.

Trump has established himself as a man who repeatedly degrades and demeans women. He has called Alicia Machado, a former Miss Venezuela and Miss Universe winner, both Miss Piggy and Miss Housekeeping – simultaneously body-shaming her after gaining weight, which triggered years of eating disorders and psychological problems, and taking a jab at her Latina heritage using harmful and racist stereotypes. He has reduced women to their bodies and sex appeal countless times, and called them “pigs” and “slobs”. (For a more comprehensive list of Trump’s offenses against women, take a look at The Telegraph’s Sexism Tracker.)

This is a man who has been accused of sexual assault multiple times, who has propelled his professional career using women as objects, from beauty pageants to TV shows to thousands of photo opportunities picturing The Donald surrounded by women. And he is running for President of the United States.

In this video, Trump brags about an attempt to “try and f***” a married woman, stating, “I moved on her like a b****,” but then validating his failure, stating that she now has “phony tits.” This statement strongly implies that because this woman chose to alter her body, she is no longer valuable. Because, in Donald Trump’s reality, women are valued by their bodies, and because her breasts are now unsatisfactory to him, she as a human being is no longer satisfactory.

He then says, “You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful – I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.” And if this isn’t enough, he then continues:

“And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p****. You can do anything.”

This is horrifying. Just kissing someone, and clearly grabbing them “by the p****,” without asking for consent is sexual assault. Trump thinks this is funny. He thinks that because he is Donald Trump, it’s okay for him to sexually assault women. He says all of this with authority. That he can do anything, including committing a sex crime against any woman because he is, in his mind, a star. And regardless of how Trump apologizes, or claims that these are comments he regrets and they do not represent him, they do represent him.

At the time of this video, Trump was married to Melania, his third wife. Trump’s marriages by no means influence my thoughts on him as a politician; he is entitled to not be in an unhappy relationship, and I completely respect that decision, and sincerely hope that he and Melania are happy together. But Trump has used Bill Clinton’s infidelity as a point against Hillary, targeting her as a weak woman, and not a true feminist. But Hillary chose to stay with Bill. That is something she decided for whatever reasons she did, and that personal decision should never be considered in evaluating her candidacy, because it is simply irrelevant. The audacity it takes for this man to cite a woman’s personal relationship as a reason that she should not only not be respected, but is unfit to be president, is inconceivable to me.

In this video, he is married, and blatantly states that he tried to have sex with another married woman, then proceeds to hit on a woman who he is with for professional purposes. He feels entitled to treat women like this, to conduct his life in this way, yet still calls Hillary’s marriage to attention in a political realm. To Donald Trump, it’s okay for him to cheat on his wife and literally assault women, but it is not okay for Hillary to accept Bill’s infidelity and move on with her life.

In his statement, he says, “This is nothing more than a distraction from the important issues we’re facing today… Bill Clinton has actually abused women, and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed, and intimidated his victims. We will discuss this more in the coming days. See you at the debate on Sunday.” Essentially, he is claiming that his flagrant womanizing and support of sexual assault is irrelevant, but Hillary’s marriage is a topic worthy of bringing up, once again, on the national stage.

More importantly, however, is the fact that this is an important issue that we are facing today. We live in a society where this rhetoric is something you hear all the time. School dress codes prohibit girls from wearing certain this so not to distract the male students. We constantly hear about countless cases of women getting raped, and then blamed for it. We have developed a culture in which this objectification and abuse of women is acceptable, and the President should be doing everything he or she can to fight it, and let this nation know that this is not acceptable.

This isn’t just a woman’s issue. This is a human’s issue. Because when you hear this offensive, demeaning rhetoric, you should be offended. If you are not a woman, you should be offended for your mother, your sister, your grandma, your daughter, your granddaughter, your female friends, every woman you have ever encountered. But you should be personally offended, too, because Trump isn’t just attacking women. With his hurtful and disgusting comments, he’s attacking anyone who respects women. He’s attacking anyone who believes in equality, anyone who believes that rape culture is very much alive in our society, and needs to be fixed. Quite frankly, he epitomizes this sexism in which women are expected to be subordinate and timid. He epitomizes this rape culture in which women are consistently objectified, where instead of men being taught that objectifying and assaulting women is not okay, women are taught that they are susceptible to this objectification and assault if they wear a certain thing, say a certain thing, or act a certain way.

It is deeply troubling that our society is like this. Just for reference, one in five women will experience sexual assault in their time at college. In a survey conducted in 2014, over 99% of the women asked said they had experienced street harassment. This is the society we live in today, and denying that sexism and rape culture are still alive is simply ignorant. The fact that a man who symbolizes this culture is on our ballot for president is extremely disturbing, and before you cast your vote, please ask yourself if you think this misogynistic man and the misogynistic society that will continue to flourish under his presidency are at all acceptable. Even Mike Pence, Donald Trump’s running mate, has condemned Trump for these remarks, stating, “As a husband and father, I was offended by the words and actions described by Donald Trump in the 11-year-old video released (Friday). I do not condone his remarks and cannot defend them.”

I respect democracy and I respect the right for everyone to have different political opinions. But if you still plan on casting your ballot for Donald Trump, please know that you cannot vote for this man without voting for the ideology he represents.